Despite the amount of ink spilled trying to determine whether Seibu Lions pitcher Yusei Kikuchi was actually guilty of the illegal two-stage pitching motion he was cited for on Thursday night, it's more important to note the way he handled the Tohoku Rakuten Golden ...

Rookie Seishu Hatake allowed a run in eight innings as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Yokohama BayStars 6-1 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
The win before 44,625 at Tokyo Dome pushed the fourth-place Giants to within two games of the BayStars, who occupy ...

Tomoyuki Sugano hasn't really needed a lot of run support when facing the Yokohama BayStars this season.
That doesn't mean his teammates don't like providing it all the same.
Sugano held the BayStars in check with another good performance against them, and Casey McGehee took the ...

It was only 10 days ago that Shingo Usami recorded his first pro hit. After his last swing of the bat on Friday night, the Yomiuri Giants youngster can check his first home run and first game-winning hit off the list as well.
Usami hit ...

Yomiuri Giants right-hander Shun Yamaguchi was suspended for the remainder of the season on Friday after charges against the 30-year-old were referred to prosecutors over an incident last month.
The pitcher, who joined the Giants in the offseason after filing for free agency with the ...

Shinnosuke Abe, a key member on seven pennant-winning Yomiuri Giants teams and the Central League's 2012 MVP, reached Japan's iconic 2,000-hit milestone on Sunday.
Now a first baseman, the 38-year-old Abe was the Giants' catcher from his rookie year in 2001 until 2014. He is ...

For most of the season, Yomiuri Giants infielder Takayuki Terauchi has been the odd man out, relegated mostly to pinch-hitting, running and serving as a defensive replacement. So when he got a rare chance to step into the spotlight, he wasn't about to let ...

Miles Mikolas tossed seven shutout innings and Shingo Ishikawa was 2-for-3 with three RBIs as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Hanshin Tigers 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Mikolas (10-5) held the Tigers to four hits and struck out four during his 119-pitch outing at Tokyo Dome, ...

It won't be long before the Yomiuri Giants' Shinnosuke Abe breaks through the 2,000-hit threshold. Abe has 1,994 now, so it's only a matter of time before he becomes the 49th player to reach the mark in NPB alone.
Abe should be followed in short ...

Career saves leader Hitoki Iwase stepped into the record books on Sunday when he closed out the Chunichi Dragons' 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Yomiuri Giants.
Pitching in his 950th career game, the lefty surpassed the Nippon Professional Baseball record held by former Hankyu Braves ...

The Yomiuri Giants belted three home runs for the sixth straight game and Tomoyuki Sugano went eight innings as the Kyojin clobbered the Chunichi Dragons 8-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Before 43,599 at Tokyo Dome, offseason free-agent acquisition Daikan Yoh hit his fourth homer in three ...

When you've got a pitcher as good as Tomoyuki Sugano on the mound, the game plan is usually pretty simple.
Give him a lead, and get out of the way.
Shuichi Murata, Yoshiyuki Kamei and Hisayoshi Chono combined to drive in four runs in the first ...